anyone know anything about this? please?

[littlefrog]

Hello there, I wonder if someone can help me with a slightly odd question. Basically, does anyone know if are you more likely to have problems (miscarriage) if ‘old’ sperm fertilise an egg?
Reason for question is that a long time ago I got pregnant on something like day 5 of my cycle, and then again this March on day 6. No idea at all when I would have ovulated first time round, but we’d been using NFP successfully for over a year before March, and going on a year’s worth of charts it’s usually day 11, and temps/slithery mucus suggest that it was day 11 in March as well. This time, although the baby wasn’t planned (both thought the other was keeping track of days…) we were really pleased, and devastated when I miscarried (missed miscarriage at 10 weeks). I miscarried the first pregnancy really early on (5 and a bit weeks, I think, although they also wondered if it might have been ectopic - not sure why). We don't have any children.
My husband is now really worried that this is something to do with ‘old’ sperm, i.e. ones that have been sitting around for a while waiting for an egg to pop out. The doctor says that eggs definitely only last a day, but that sperm can live for a week. Please does anyone know anything about this? I am feeling really miserable about what has happened, and I just don’t know what to think about this Theory. I'd really like to try again soon, and I don't know what to do. thank you...

Sorry I don't know anything about this to help but sad to hear about your m/cs.
X

Hi Littlefrog,

Hopefully the following will help:-

Probably the most common cause of any pregnancy loss is a chromosome abnormality in the conception. The contribution of the inappropriate number of chromosomes usually comes from the egg. Best estimates are today that only about one half the eggs a woman makes in her reproductive lifetime are capable of a successful pregnancy. Most of these chromosomally abnormal eggs are never identified as pregnancies. Either they do not divide to produce an embryo or fetus, or the conception is lost very soon after implantation of the early embryo. A woman is a few days late for her menstrual period and thinks nothing of it.

Eggs and sperm, collectively known as gametes, form differently than other cells in the body. With the exception of gametes, all normal cells in the human contain 46 chromosomes. There are 22 paired chromosomes called autosomes. These direct the overall formation of the body. There is also a twenty-third pair of chromosomes, often referred to as sex chromosomes. In women and girls, there is a matched pair of "X" chromosomes, which are responsible for, among other things, the formation of the ovaries. In men and boys, one of the "X" chromosomes is replaced with a much shorter "Y" chromosome. The "Y" chromosome carries the determinants for maleness. Formation of gametes (sperm and eggs) requires the separation of pairs of chromosomes into singletons, which on fertilization of the egg recombine to form the 23 pairs of a new individual. Some times in the formation of a gamete, some genetic material gets lost. It may be the result of the loss of a part of a chromosome or even an entire chromosome. The missing genetic material may be attached to another chromosome and be surplus genetic material in another gamete. Large deletions or excesses of genetic material are lethal conditions for the conception and it will be lost. Examinations of products of conception, which have been passed, are rarely helpful. For couples with repeated losses, it is better to evaluate their chromosomes to determine if one of them is at increased risk of making gametes with the improper number of chromosomes.

An ectopic pregnancy would certainly have necessitated an urgent hospital admission as the egg would have implanted in one of your fallopian tubes.

Have you contacted the Miscarriage Association - have heard they are very helpful and could provide further advice.

Thank you Attila, that's really helpful, and fits what I've read about. What I don't understand is why/whether more chromosomal abnormalities come from eggs than sperm. We're hoping it's just been bad luck, and that all will be well next time.

On the first pregnancy - I had quite a bit of one-sided pain, but only had an early scan once I'd started to bleed, and they said it might have been ectopic (not the right amount of thickening, low hormone levels) but it's miscarried, so you've been lucky... Lucky...not sure I'd agree there.
Thanks for your support.

Hi littlefrog. I asked a Doctor friend this the other day as my DS has a low sperm count but of a very high quality (76% motiliy). I wanted to know if this lessened our chances of chromosonal abnormality if we conceived. She said that chromosonal deformities will tend to come from the egg, as deformed sperm rarely get far enough.

Bad news for me: good news for you?